Thursday, July 30, 2009

Visit me this September at MaineFare

MaineFare, an annual food festival that seeks to "celebrate the bounty of Maine" will take place in Camden September 11-13. The weekend features demonstrations, discussions, cooking classes, and tastings of Maine made food and beverages.

I've been invited to teach a cooking class on Saturday. I'm planning a vegan feast: corn and black bean chowder bursting with late summer and early autumn vegetables, savory squash biscuits, and time permitting, a pear dessert. You can buy tickets to the weekend's events, including my class (I'm listed as Chef Mary Lake—ha!), here.

In the meantime, this Washington Post article about the environmental impact of meat provides some food for thought. It's a good reminder that food choices often impact our carbon footprint more than choices regarding transportation and electricity. Incremental changes (Meatless Monday, for example), if adopted on a large scale, can have a tremendous positive impact on the Earth. From the article:

"Going vegetarian might not be as effective as going vegan, but it's better than eating meat, and eating meat less is better than eating meat more. It would be a whole lot better for the planet if everyone eliminated one meat meal a week than if a small core of die-hards developed perfectly virtuous diets."

I may not inspire anyone to give up meat and dairy entirely, but I hope that by sharing delicious vegan recipes at MaineFare, I can convince people that eating less meat is possible, and even enjoyable. Hope to see you there!